exercise doesn't actually help depression

and now we know. All that advice about getting out and getting some exercise so you feel better is now not based on any real research. It seems that people do improve, but those people who get better

In the August issue of Archives of General Psychiatry:

Results Cross-sectional and longitudinal associations were small and were best explained by common genetic factors with opposite effects on exercise behavior and symptoms of anxiety and depression. In genetically identical twin pairs, the twin who exercised more did not display fewer anxious and depressive symptoms than the co-twin who exercised less. Longitudinal analyses showed that increases in exercise participation did not predict decreases in anxious and depressive symptoms.

Conclusion Regular exercise is associated with reduced anxious and depressive symptoms in the population at large, but the association is not because of causal effects of exercise.

Here's the press release. I'm sitting on the couch from now on.